Midwives struggling to provide safe service to women and babies due to increasing workloads

Midwifery services are "buckling" under the strain of rising birthrates, inadequate funding and a lack of staff, the Government was warned today.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said research showed that staff were facing increasing workloads and were "struggling" to provide a safe service to women and babies.

A survey of over 100 Heads of Midwifery showed that 95 per cent reported increasing workloads while three out of four complained they did not have enough staff to cope, especially in the face of the rising birthrate.

Almost a third said they had been asked to reduce their budget and spend less, which the RCM described as "alarming."

The study was published to support a call by health unions, including the RCM, for the Government to re-open a three-year pay deal worth around eight per cent, because of rising inflation.

The RCM said midwives lagged behind comparable professions such as teachers and police officers in pay terms, leaving the profession "poorly rewarded" for their skills.

Vacancy rates in England had worsened, especially in London and the South East and were now over five per cent, the report said.

Jon Skewes, Director of Employment Relations and Development at the RCM, said: 'The comments of many of these midwife managers make worrying reading, and tell a tale of rock bottom morale, high levels of stress and overwork.

'Right at the sharp end of this are the women and babies midwives are struggling to care for.

'Women should be getting access to high quality care throughout their pregnancy and beyond and we know that too often this is not happening. Without the right funding and without the right numbers this situation is in danger of getting worse.

'The Government has got to make sure that we bring more midwives into the profession and keep the ones that are already there. This will not happen without fair reward.

'Midwives are facing a double-whammy of static resources at work and salaries not keeping pace with inflation so they are increasingly hard-pressed to meet household bills. Better resourced and fairly paid midwives translates directly into better care for women.'

Some of those surveyed spoke of the "enormous pressure" midwives were under while others revealed they had to freeze posts and remove unfilled vacancies to cut costs.